Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Thoughts on Sequels.....

I read The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau a few years ago and loved it. It is now one of my favorite children's books. So when I found out there was a sequel, I picked it up at the bookstore to take a look, only to put it down again after reading the first chapter because it was so darn BORING. (I only recently read the whole thing and the rest of the book did not improve much.)

My dear readers, have you ever, after reading an awesome book and eagerly awaiting/immediately seizing the sequel, been disappointed that it was not as good as the original? I would have to say that my biggest pet peeve (besides lame books in general) is lame sequels to really good books. I feel that it's almost insulting to the original book.

Tell me about it....

The Cousinly Clan

Amazing Me

Until that fateful night, I lived alone on the streets. When I was nine, I was visited by an enigmatic woman who soon vanished, leaving behind a note. I could not read it, but I kept it in my pocket, hoping it would someday be useful.

One wintry night- my fourteenth birthday, I would later learn- the zombies came. As I turned to face them, I felt a glowing feeling of power welling up inside me. The zombies began to retreat, as if repelled by an invisible barrier.

Suddenly compelled to visit the library, for the first time in my life, I chose a book and found that the same strange magic allowed me to read. Suddenly, I heard a crinkling sound inside my pocket- the mysterious note. It contained only a name and an address. The wonders of technology allowed me to use this information to locate Castle Nyx and my fiendishly evil cousins.